Western Canada , also referred to as the Western provinces , Canadian West or the Western provinces of Canada, and commonly known within Canada as the West , is a Canadian region that includes the four western provinces just north of the Canada–United States border namely (from west to east) British Columbia , Alberta , Saskatchewan and Manitoba . The people of the region are often referred to as "Western Canadians" or "Westerners", and though diverse from province to province are largely seen as being collectively distinct from other Canadians along cultural, linguistic, socioeconomic, geographic and political lines. They account for approximately 32% of Canada's total population.
50-513: [REDACTED] Look up Western provinces in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. Western Province or West Province may refer to: Western Province, Cameroon Western Province, Rwanda Western Province (Kenya) Western Province (Papua New Guinea) Western Province (Solomon Islands) Western Province, Sri Lanka Western Province, Zambia Western Province (Victoria) ,
100-442: A continental climate and experience extremes in weather. Winters in both provinces can be classified as harsh with Arctic winds and −40 °C (−40 °F) temperatures possible. Winter temperatures in both provinces average between −10 and −15 °C (14 and 5 °F). In contrast, summers can be hot with temperatures exceeding 35 °C (95 °F) at least once per year in most locations. In Canadian politics, Western Canada
150-618: A division of the Victorian Legislative Council West Kazakhstan Province Western Cape Province , South Africa Western Province (rugby union) , a provincial rugby team in the Cape Town region Western Province Cricket Association , the governing body for cricket in the Cape Town region, or its representative team Western Province cricket team Western Province Ice Hockey Association ,
200-474: A dry continental climate with warm summers and cold winters. The province is open to cold Arctic weather systems from the north, which often produce extremely cold conditions in winter. Winters are generally quite cold, though some areas can experience a phenomenon known as the " Chinook wind ", wherein warm winds raise the winter temperatures temporarily. In contrast, summers can fluctuate from cool to hot and are generally wetter. Saskatchewan and Manitoba have
250-707: A history of support in Manitoba and British Columbia. The western provinces are represented in the Parliament of Canada by 104 Members of Parliament (MPs) in the House of Commons (British Columbia 42, Alberta 34, Saskatchewan and Manitoba 14 each) and 24 senators (6 from each province). Currently, of the 104 western MPs in the Commons, 64 are Conservatives, Liberals hold 21 seats, the New Democrats hold 18 and
300-484: A moderate oceanic climate because of the influence of the Pacific Ocean. Winters are typically wet and summers relatively dry. These areas enjoy the mildest winter weather in all of Canada, as temperatures rarely fall much below the freezing mark. The mountainous Interior of the province is drier and has colder winters, but experiences hotter summers than the more moderate coastal areas. Lytton, British Columbia ,
350-555: A new light on Ice Age populations in North America as well as on the strong likelihood of this area having been the major migration route from (and perhaps to) Asia . The heavy indentation and mild climate of the British Columbia Coast have led to inevitable comparisons with the geography's predisposition to encouraging increased human settlement and movement as well as cultural foment and population growth in
400-501: A predominantly oceanic climate in the north along the coast and further inland into the foothills of the Pacific Ranges . Higher elevations feature a subpolar oceanic climate ( Köppen : Cfc) with cool summers, cold winters, and constant rainfall that peaks during the winter months. The highest elevations feature a subarctic climate ( Köppen : Dfc). The British Columbia Coast is dominated by temperate rainforest . According to
450-579: A small town that sits at the confluence of the Thompson River holds the record for the hottest temperature ever recorded in Canada at 49.6 °C (121.3 °F) on 29 June 2021, and is regularly referred as Canada's hot spot in summer with temperatures easily reaching the mid to high 30 °C 's (upper 90s to low 100s °F) in July and August and sometimes top 40 °C (104 °F). Alberta has
500-633: A state in eastern India, the western part of the Bengal region [REDACTED] Topics referred to by the same term This disambiguation page lists articles about distinct geographical locations with the same name. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Western_Province&oldid=1162114925 " Categories : Place name disambiguation pages Province name disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description
550-454: A total cargo volume of 76.5 million metric tons. By the same metric, the Port of Vancouver is also the fifth largest commercial shipping port in North America. The Port of Prince Rupert possesses the deepest ice-free natural harbour in North America, and the 3rd deepest natural harbour in the world. Situated at 54° North, the harbour is the northwesternmost port in North America linked to
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#1732765136518600-510: A vast sedimentary plain covering much of Alberta, southern Saskatchewan, and southwestern Manitoba. The prairies form a significant portion of the land area of Western Canada. The plains generally describes the expanses of largely flat, arable agricultural land which sustain extensive grain farming operations in the southern part of the provinces. Despite this, some areas such as the Cypress Hills and Alberta Badlands are quite hilly and
650-480: Is a list of these areas and their populations as of 2016. From 2011 to 2016, the fastest growing CMAs in the country were the five in Alberta and Saskatchewan: Calgary (+14.6%), Edmonton (+13.9%), Saskatoon (+12.5%), Regina (+11.8%) and Lethbridge (+10.8%). These were the only CMAs in the country to register growth over 10%. The three fastest growing CMAs - Calgary, Edmonton, and Saskatoon - were unchanged from
700-805: Is a non-profit organization and member branch of South African Ice Hockey Federation Western Province Hockey Union , is the a provincial body for field hockey West Province (Western Australia) , an electoral province of the Western Australian Legislative Council Western Oblast , Russia Western Oblast (1917-1918) , Russia Hejaz in Saudi Arabia See also [ edit ] Western Boyacá Province , Boyacá, Colombia Western Savanna Province , Cundinamarca, Colombia Gharbia Governorate in Egypt West Bengal ,
750-667: Is also composed of members from the federal Conservative Party's right-wing and many former Reform Party supporters. Following the 2017 provincial election in British Columbia, the British Columbia New Democratic Party formed a minority government with the support of the British Columbia Green Party , following the defeat of Christy Clark 's Liberal Party government by a vote of non-confidence. As of October 2020,
800-492: Is connected to the rest of B.C by various roads depending on the region. The populous Fraser Valley and Lower Mainland is linked to the rest of the province by Highway 1 (Fraser Canyon Highway), Highway 5 (Coquihalla Freeway), Highway 3 (Crowsnest Highway) and Highway 99 (Sea to Sky Highway). The Lower Mainland is also connected to the U.S. by four highway border crossings with the Peace Arch on Interstate 5 being
850-606: Is currently associated with a general Conservative Party lean, contrasted with a proportionally greater Liberal Party lean in Central and Atlantic Canada . Liberal Party strongholds exist particularly in Greater Vancouver and Winnipeg. The social democratic New Democratic Party had its origins on the Canadian Prairies and in the mining and pulp mill towns and railway camps of British Columbia and has
900-544: Is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Western provinces The region is further subdivided geographically and culturally between British Columbia, which is mostly on the western side of the Canadian Rockies and often referred to as the " west coast ", and the "Prairie Provinces" (commonly known as "the Prairies "), which include those provinces on
950-510: Is dominated by a moderate oceanic climate ( Köppen : Cfb) with warm summers, cool winters, and constant rainfall that peaks during the winter months. These areas enjoy the mildest winter weather in all of Canada, as temperatures rarely fall below freezing. The southernmost region of the coast (surrounding the Salish Sea ) features a warm-summer Mediterranean climate with warm, dry summers and cool, wet winters. This gradually transitions to
1000-552: Is in the province, it is synonymous with being the West Coast of Canada . While the exact boundaries are variously defined, the region is generally defined to include the 15 regional districts that have coastline along the Pacific Ocean or Salish Sea , or are part of the Lower Mainland , a subregion of the British Columbia Coast. Other boundaries may exclude parts of or even entire regional districts, such as those of
1050-400: Is no north–south highway linking the coastal communities of the province between Port Hardy and Kitimat . Instead, travellers utilize one of the coastal ferry lines operated by BC Ferries . The exceptions are Bella Coola is accessible by a long largely gravel Highway 20 from the B.C interior over a high pass; and the towns of Terrace , Prince Rupert and Kitimat which is assessed from
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#17327651365181100-639: Is one of the world's largest net exporters of both energy and agricultural commodities. Approximate breakdown: Energy: Agriculture: British Columbia Coast The British Columbia Coast , popularly referred to as the BC Coast or simply the Coast , is a geographic region of the Canadian province of British Columbia . As the entire western continental coastline of Canada along the Pacific Ocean
1150-691: The North-Western Territory . In 1870, the British government transferred the lands of the company to Canada. The area of Western Canada not within British Columbia was established as the Northwest Territories under Canadian control. The western provinces other than British Columbia were established from areas of the Northwest Territories: As of the 2016 Census , the total population of Western Canada
1200-521: The ecoregion system used by the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), the BC Coast is part of five distinct ecoregions: Puget lowland forests , Central Pacific coastal forests , British Columbia mainland coastal forests , Haida Gwaii coastal forests , and Pacific Coastal Mountain icefields and tundra . According to the ecozone system used by Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC),
1250-723: The 15 regional districts of British Columbia defined as being in the Coast region: The fishery of the Pacific Northwest Coast is legendary, especially for its many salmon runs and the cultures that built on top of them throughout the region. Salmon runs have greatly diminished since pre-Contact years and the advent of commercial canning and, ultimately, depletion of stocks by high-seas fishing. Other commercial fisheries include halibut , herring and herring roe, sea urchin and other specialty sushis , hake , haddock , cod , crab and shellfish. The Coast Region of B.C
1300-635: The Aegean, the Irish Sea/Hebrides and in the Danish Archipelago and adjoining Scandinavian coasts. The natural fecundity of the environment – rich in seafood , wild game , and greenery – combined with the ease of travel (by water) is seen in all cases (British Columbia, Denmark , Greece ) to have generated a dynamic and gifted civilization. And there are comparisons to be made between the artistic and political and social level of
1350-674: The B.C. interior on Highway 16 . Haida Gwaii has an extension of Highway 16 on it, one of Haida Gwaii's few paved roads. The sheltered waterways of the British Columbia Coast form part of the Inside Passage , a coastal maritime route along which vessels navigate to avoid the rough waters and bad weather of the open North Pacific . As such, the maritime route is heavily trafficked by cruise ships , cargo ships , ferries , and other marine vessels. BC Ferries , an independently managed publicly-owned company , operates scheduled daily crossings between major population centres throughout
1400-584: The BC Coast is part of four distinct ecozones: Pacific Coastal Mountains , Coastal Western Hemlock-Sitka Spruce Forests , Pacific and Nass Ranges , and Strait of Georgia/Puget Lowland . According to the British Columbia Ministry of Forests , which uses an ecosystem classification system independent of the WWF and ECCC , the BC Coast is part of two distinct biogeoclimatic zones: Coastal Western Hemlock and Coastal Douglas-fir . Below are
1450-583: The BC NDP hold a majority government in the legislature. The New Democratic Party holds a majority in the Manitoba legislature. The 2023 Alberta general election reduced the United Conservative Party 's seat count, but they held on to a majority. The Saskatchewan Party holds a supermajority government in its legislature. Energy and agriculture are Western Canada's dominant industries – and this region, with only 11 million inhabitants,
1500-428: The British Columbia Coast. Dozens of smaller ferries ply lesser routes within and between these regions. The Alaska Marine Highway also operates nonstop ferry service through the British Columbia Coast along its Bellingham-Ketchikan route. The Port of Vancouver is the largest commercial shipping port in all of Canada and along the entire Pacific Ocean / Pacific coast of North America by metric tons , which handles
1550-581: The First Nations to British control and land claims are still ongoing. In 1858, the British government established the Colony of British Columbia , governing that part of Canada still known as British Columbia. The English government established the Hudson's Bay Company, which controlled most of the current area of Western Canada, northern Ontario and northern Quebec, the area known as Rupert's Land and
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1600-515: The Greens hold 1. Western alienation refers to the notion that Western Canada has been excluded economically and politically from the rest of Canada. The West has been the most vocal in calls for reform of the Senate , in which Ontario, Quebec , and particularly Atlantic Canada are seen by some westerners as being over-represented. The population of Ontario alone (13.1 million) exceeds that of all
1650-545: The Island. Although the Sunshine Coast is on the mainland it is connected to the highway network only by ferries. It has one route which is Highway 101 , a narrow curvy 2 lane road split in two by a ferry crossing. Texada Island , a large island off the Sunshine Coast and has its own network of highway standard roads although they are unnumbered. Owing to the challenging topography of the British Columbia Coast, there
1700-602: The Pacific Northwest Peoples and those of pre-Conversion pagan Scandinavia, Ireland and Archaic-Era Greece. The British Columbia Coast stretches from the southern tip of Vancouver Island along the Strait of Juan de Fuca to the community of Stewart at the head of Portland Canal . The aerial distance between these two points is approximately 954 km (593 mi). However, due to its deeply incised coastline and over 40,000 islands of varying sizes,
1750-713: The Senate were a body that had more direct political power (for example via an arrangement more similar to the structure of the Australian Senate or the United States Senate rather than the UK model), then their region would have more of its concerns addressed at the federal level. Other westerners find this approach simplistic and either advocate keeping the status quo or may support other models for senate reform. The combination of all of these issues has led to
1800-477: The aforementioned Lower Mainland . While the term British Columbia Coast has been recorded from the earliest period of non-native settlement in British Columbia, it has never been officially defined in legal terms. The term has historically been in popular usage for over a century to describe a region of the province that extends west from the Coast Mountains and North Cascades . This definition makes
1850-813: The border between Alberta and British Columbia. The Columbia and the Fraser Rivers have their headwaters in the Canadian Rockies and are the second- and third-largest rivers, respectively, to drain to the west coast of North America. To the west of their headwaters, across the Rocky Mountain Trench , is a second belt of mountains, the Columbia Mountains , comprising the Selkirk , Purcell , Monashee and Cariboo Mountains sub-ranges. The coast of British Columbia enjoys
1900-528: The coast. The proximity of these mountains to the coast produce fjords that rival those of Norway in length and depth. Several large Islands fill the strait between Vancouver Island and the Mainland with Texada Island , Cortes Island and Salt Spring Island being the largest in size. Fjords of note include Burrard Inlet , Burke Channel , Howe Sound , Jervis Inlet , Desolation Sound , Dean Channel , Douglas Channel , and Portland Inlet . The BC Coast
1950-499: The concept known as Western alienation , as well as calls for Western Canada independence by various fringe groups. Regarding provincial politics, from May 2001 to June 2017, the British Columbia Liberal Party formed the provincial government in British Columbia, though despite the name is not formally allied with the federal Liberal Party and is widely seen as centre-right or conservative in nature. It
2000-547: The eastern side of the Rockies yet west of Ontario - Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. Alberta and British Columbia are also sometimes subcategorized together, either as the "Rockie Provinces" or "mountain provinces" owing to both hosting large swathes of the mountain range, or due to shared socioeconomic factors such as their highly urbanized populations (three of Canada's five largest cities are Calgary , Edmonton , and Vancouver ) and significant interprovincial mobility between
2050-733: The largest. Several freeways connect lower mainland communities together. The backbone of Vancouver Island's highway network is the Highway 19 which along with a portion of Highway 1 forms the Island Highway . The Island highway is a mix of 4-lane freeway, 4 lane arterial highway and 2 lane highway running roughly along the east shore of Vancouver Island. Access to the west coast of Vancouver Island can be accomplished by crossing mountain passes on Highway 4 to Tofino and Highway 28 to Gold River . Thousands of other roads ranging from small freeways near Victoria to logging roads exist all over
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2100-654: The prairie provinces contain large areas of forest such as the Mid-Continental Canadian forests . In Alberta and British Columbia, the Canadian Cordillera is bounded by the Rocky Mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. The Canadian Rockies are part of a major continental divide that extends north and south through western North America and western South America . The continental divide also defines much of
2150-498: The previous intercensal period. Western Canada consists of the country's four westernmost provinces: British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. It covers 2.9 million square kilometres – almost 29% of Canada's land area. British Columbia adjoins the Pacific Ocean to the west, while Manitoba has a coastline on Hudson Bay in its northeast of the province. Both Alberta and Saskatchewan are landlocked between British Columbia and Manitoba. The Canadian Prairies are part of
2200-554: The second-largest metropolitan areas of their respective province. The largest cities are Vancouver , Calgary , and Saskatoon respectively. Western Canada is the traditional territory of Indigenous and First Nations predating the arrival of European colonization . As Britain colonized the West, it established treaties with various First Nations, took control of other areas without opposition and fought with other First Nations for control of Western Canada. Not all lands were ceded by
2250-465: The term British Columbia Coast largely synonymous with the 15 regional districts that have territory in this region. Among locals, the British Columbia Coast can further be divided into seven major subregions: Research from the 1990s has indicated that the Ice Age-era coastline of the British Columbia Coast was lower by about 100 m (330 ft). The effect of the sea level on the coastline
2300-469: The total length of the British Columbia Coast is over 25,725 km (15,985 mi), or approximately 10% of the entire Canadian coastline. This coastal geography is shared with the neighbouring U.S. states of Alaska and Washington . The dominant landforms are the Insular Mountains of Vancouver Island and Haida Gwaii , and the Coast Mountains that stretch along the entire length of
2350-434: The two. Alberta and Saskatchewan, having once been united as a single territory, are also sometimes subcategorized together due to shared political and economic histories, as well as similar historic migratory patterns from Eastern Europe. The capital cities of the four western provinces, from west to east, are: With the exception of Winnipeg, which is the largest city in Manitoba, all other western provincial capitals are in
2400-580: The western provinces combined. The total population of Atlantic Canada, however, is 2.3 million, and this region is represented by 30 senators. Thus, Ontario is under-represented, Quebec has representation proportional to its population and the Atlantic provinces are over-represented. Westerners have advocated the so-called Triple-E Senate , which stands for "equal, elected, effective." They feel if all 10 provinces were allotted an equal number of senators, if those senators were elected instead of appointed, and if
2450-723: Was nearly 11.1 million, including approximately 4.65 million in British Columbia, 4.07 million in Alberta, 1.1 million in Saskatchewan, and 1.28 million in Manitoba. This represents 31.5% of Canada's population. Vancouver is the largest metropolitan area in Western Canada at nearly 2.5 million people, while Calgary is largest city proper at over 1.2 million people. As of the 2016 Census, Statistics Canada recognized ten census metropolitan areas within Western Canada, including four in British Columbia, three in Alberta, two in Saskatchewan, and one in Manitoba. The following
2500-469: Was such that Queen Charlotte Sound , which is between Haida Gwaii and the northern end of Vancouver Island, was a coastal plain, as were all the straits inland from it, except for those that were mountain valleys. Underwater archaeology has shown the presence of permanent human habitations and other activity at the 100 m (330 ft) contour, and the Ice Age existence of such a coastal plain has put
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